India’s local commerce platform nearbuy, has raised a venture debt of Rs 15 crore from BlackSoil Capital. Featuring hyper local offers in segments such as food and beverage, spa, salons, wellness and getaways, nearbuy allows customers to discover the best things to do around them.

nearbuy is backed by the Venture Capital firm, Sequoia Capital with Groupon US as a minority shareholder. Post management buyout in August 2015, wherein Sequoia had invested $17 million, this is the first debt transaction for nearbuy. The Gurgaon-based startup aims at utilising the capital for investing in customer and merchant technology. In the past 12 months, nearbuy has expanded its presence to 33 cities across over 10 categories generating over 500,000 footfalls for offline merchants per month.

According to Mohinder Pal Bansal, Director, BlackSoil Capital, an RBI registered NBFC that specialises in real estate and venture debt among other segments, “Venture Debt concept is growing rapidly in India and has a huge potential considering the evolving Startup Indian industry. BlackSoil Capital is looking forward to partner with Startups with strong and sustainable business models like nearbuy who are enjoying attractive unit economics and customer traction.”

Further, Ankur Warikoo, Founder & CEO, nearbuy, stated, “We are delighted to have partnered with BlackSoil Capital. With this financing, nearbuy will focus on core technology for customers and merchants to further cement our market leadership position in India…”

And, Sumeet Kapur, CFO, nearbuy, added, “We are confident that this venture debt from BlackSoil will help us accomplish our goals more efficiently. BlackSoil was able to tailor a financing structure that met our business needs.”